Usability of TeleFOT Nomadic and Aftermarket Devices [D1.8]

This deliverable reports on the Usability activities undertaken in TeleFOT mainly within WPs 4.8 and 4.10. These planned to support the Sub-Project 4 of TeleFOT in Evaluation and Assessment of nomadic devices within the national Field Operational Tests (FOTs). The key objective of WP4.8 in this regard is to provide measurable data that allows comparing usability and user experience of different driver assistance services whilst the key objective of WP4.10 is to identify and define the target and actual technical performance metrics for the Nomadic Devices (NDs) used. Two approaches are described in this Deliverable which have been utilised within TeleFOT for evaluating the usability of the nomadic and aftermarket devices tested within the TeleFOT FOTs. The first approach describes the feedback received from the TeleFOT participants with regard to their user experiences with the devices tested during the FOTs. To complement this information, each test site was asked to supply usability information specifically related to the time taken and the number of user interactions (aka button presses) to access certain functions within their ND. These included time and interactions to access the main menu and primary function, or adjust the volume, as well as to start up and shut down. The participants’ opinions on the design of the device, user interface, initial reactions and benefits to the NDs were then recorded as were ‘Other Issues’ which related to participants’ perceived usefulness, reliability and ease to interpret the information offered by the ND. This method allowed in-depth information to be captured surrounding issues which may have influenced the use of the ND during the FOT and/or common issues which arose. The second approach involved expert evaluations undertaken by HMI analysts working at the test-sites on a number of devices that were tested within TeleFOT. Not all of the devices that were tested within TeleFOT were subjected to expert evaluations. However, the procedure for such evaluations is described along with the results

Analysing passengers' behaviours when boarding trains to improve rail infrastructure and technology

Concentrated boarding describes the phenomenon when rail passengers congregate in certain areas of the platform and board the train carriages that stop near these areas. This influences the distribution of passengers throughout the carriages, which can negatively affect passenger comfort, safety at the platform-train interface, efficiency of the rail network, and the reputation of rail travel as a whole. This project aimed to determine whether concentrated boarding occurs in stations in the UK in order to understand its relevance for future rolling stock, infrastructure design and its associated manufacturing research. Video recording technology was used to observe the movements of passengers in Oxford Station and data was collected for nine individual trains. By reviewing the recordings, the number of passengers boarding through each door of the trains was determined, and the boarding distribution along the length of the platform was plotted. Several reasons for noted trends are offered, and potential solutions proposed. The use of real time information could be invaluable to minimise concentrated boarding, as it would allow passengers to make informed decisions as to where they could board trains to have a better journey experience. These findings indicate the relevance of a human-centred design process, particularly the user research stages, in the process of defining priorities for manufacturing and engineering

Using the ideas café to explore trust in autonomous vehicles

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019. Trust has been shown to play a key role in our ability to safely use autonomous vehicles; hence the authors used the Ideas Café to explore the factors affecting trust in autonomous vehicles. The Ideas Café is an informal collaborative event that brings the public together with domain experts for exploratory research. The authors structured the event around factors affecting trust in the technology, privacy and societal impact. The event followed a mixed methods approach using: table discussions, spectrum lines and line ups. 36 participants attended the Ideas Café event held at the Coventry Transport Museum in June 2017. Table discussions provided the key findings for Thematic Analysis as part of Grounded Theory; which found, contrary to current research trends, designing for the technology’s integration with society as equally important for trust as the vehicle design itself. The authors also reported on the emergent high level interface guidelines

Impacts on safety - results and implications: TeleFOT [Field Operational Tests of Aftermarket and Nomadic Devices in Vehicles]. D4.4.3 Vol 0.4

This deliverable presents the full and final analysis results in relation to the safety impact assessment. It then draws upon these results to discuss the impact that the functions provided by Nomadic Devices have upon safety. The deliverable is structured so as to present the key results for each Research Question (RQ) and Hypothesis within the main body of the report. These main results are then restructured on a function basis in order to assess the impact of each function upon; • Route Choice • Distance Travelled • Distraction • Speed • Lane positioning • Braking behaviour • Manual activity Further supporting analysis for each RQ is provided in Annex 1. Subsequently, an evaluation is made relating any impacts observed to consequences for safety. This evaluation is made using results that refer to singular functions; results from Field operational tests (FOT) that evaluated bundles of functions are included within the results sections for each Research Question but not included within the evaluation. This is since there are no current rigorous methods accepted within the research community for dealing with bundles of functions; this is being discussed and considered within the revision of the FESTA handbook

TeleFOT: field operational tests of aftermarket and nomadic devices in vehicles. D 4.3.3, Impacts on safety: results and implications

This deliverable presents the full and final analysis results in relation to the safety impact assessment. It then draws upon these results to discuss the impact that the functions provided by Nomadic Devices have upon safety. [Continues.